Accepted to Holy Spirit-Torn on Decision

[Anonymous]

Hello. We are new to the area over the past year.

We have a current kindergarten who next year, but otherwise go to Hunt Valley elementary. This little brother would be in pre-K at a local area daycare that we really like, where the older brother would still do before and aftercare.

We are prisoners at Holy Spirit Church, and really enjoyed it there, and applied in. Our boys have been accepted for pre-K in first grade next year.

They wouldn’t have to do aftercare almost every day as well.

Would appreciate any families insights about Holy Spirit. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello. We are new to the area over the past year.

We have a current kindergarten who next year, but otherwise go to Hunt Valley elementary. This little brother would be in pre-K at a local area daycare that we really like, where the older brother would still do before and aftercare.

We are prisoners at Holy Spirit Church, and really enjoyed it there, and applied in. Our boys have been accepted for pre-K in first grade next year.

They wouldn’t have to do aftercare almost every day as well.

Would appreciate any families insights about Holy Spirit. Thank you!

No real insight about the school but I did lol at being prisoners at the church. Good luck with your decision, we were at another Arlington K-8 and were very happy.

[Anonymous]

Sorry. Voice to text. Meant parishioners.

[Anonymous]

Hi op. We’re a Holy Spirit family. My kids have been there since early elementary and my eldest is now in high school and my youngest is there in middle school. We’ve been very happy with it, and that includes getting through the covid years!

I’m not clear if you have a specific question or concern, but here are some of my thoughts on the school.

Pros:
I preferred a school with two classes per grade instead of just one. Especially by the time kids are in middle school the larger number of kids is helpful.

Strong and engaged parent community. There are a good number of activities and traditions. Lots of opportunities to get involved. The family FB page is a helpful resource.

The resource center and their team is great. Turns out one of my kids was mildly dyslexic and the team was helpful for that. Also my kids get to see the school live out our values. There are kids with intellectual disabilities including Down syndrome who are engaged and part of the class. It’s a huge change from how these kids were treated when I was young.

More textbooks, less screens. I’ve talked to parents who moved over from public schools and they bring this up as a big positive. There’s also less pressure to get your kids a phone young. Many parents follow the “Wait until 8th grade” philosophy, so your kid won’t be the only one in 6th grade without a phone.

Traditional values. This mattered to us and we’ve been happy with the way the school reinforces the values we share at home.

Cons:
Being a Catholic school, the teacher pay is not great and teacher turnover is higher than I’d like it to be. Middle school in particular was rough when the current principal came in a couple of years ago. But they’ve gotten some great new teachers there now so I’m hopeful for the future.

Part of that is that now tuition has been increasing, as they work to improve teacher pay and keep things stable.


All in all, we’ve been very happy there and I’d happily recommend the school. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

[Anonymous]

np here and sorry to lurk but I have some positives to add. I live in the neighborhood. Did not send our children to private. Lots of Catholic students enter the area public HS in 9th and I have been impressed. They are conscientious and confident. A big plus is they missed the public school "memo" on whether they were gifted. If your student chooses to do public anytime after MS, they'll come into public with good self confidence.

[Anonymous]

We are a St. Louis family, but just wanted to chime in that we miss our former principal who is now at Holy Spirit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry. Voice to text. Meant parishioners.

Freudian slip?

[Anonymous]

We are a Holy Spirit family. We love it. They use textbooks, have limited screen time, encourage parental participation, and instill the values we want are children to have. It’s an investment, especially being non Catholic, but worth it to us.

[Anonymous]

Want to also say the pre-k and 1st grade teachers are fantastic! I couldnt be happier with what and how the children are learning.

[Anonymous]

My son did pre-k at Holy Spirit and it was a terrible fit. The teachers were constantly criticizing him and he lost a lot of confidence that year. Also, I found the expectation that a parent attend many school day events difficult as a working parent.

My son then went to a FCPS elementary school and did very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son did pre-k at Holy Spirit and it was a terrible fit. The teachers were constantly criticizing him and he lost a lot of confidence that year. Also, I found the expectation that a parent attend many school day events difficult as a working parent.

My son then went to a FCPS elementary school and did very well.

NP. Agree that Holy Spirit is more traditional than a typical FCPS elementary and has pretty high standards for behavior. Some kids definitely struggle with that, especially the ones who simply need more movement during the day.

My kids all attended HS for K-8th. It's not perfect, and there were aspects of uniforms, homework levels, and expected parental involvement that grated on all of us after a while. At some points we thought about transferring but they didn't want to leave their friends. But they were more than well prepared for high school so we were ultimately happy with the decision although middle school especially was a grind at times. It generally took them all until the middle of 10th grade in honors/AP classes to approach the number of tests, long-term projects, and homework they had in 8th grade. That was under the old administration though so maybe it's improved, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

My advice - if you would want to attend in the future, accept now. I don’t know a lot of schools that give you a second chance to accept.

[Anonymous]

You are a holy torn spirit prisoner

[Anonymous]

We aren't a Holy Spirit family but have many friends who are. They have been happy with the school and their kids are doing well. If we weren't happy with our Protestant school I would consider it.

[Anonymous]

Current Holy Spirit family (and have been for quite some time). Everything posted my most current families is rather adequate.

I will say, the Middle School has changed quite a bit over the last couple of years and academic rigor isn't near where it once was. The homework level has gone from robust to nearly nothing, paper/research writing has decreased, the science fair program is a shell of what it once was, House student program gone and the overall robust vibe is lacking these days. While science programs are generally weak at Catholic schools, it has become especially weak at Holy Spirit (middle school). The Middle School used to have one of the best science programs in the Diocese but that is no longer the case.

I attribute some of the changes to complaining parents (homework levels decreasing). Candidly, the current Administration has generally watered down the overall academic rigor compared to the previous school Administration. Some families welcome all these changes, other long time families have not been so impressed. Those that have stuck it out are on borrowed time (kids with 1-2 years left).

All in all, our experience has been positive and my kids well prepared. That being said, I attribute most of that success to the previous Administration. The current team is average, at best, and if I had to do it all over again with the current Administration team in place, I would sadly find an alternative Catholic school.